1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a welding wire container for containing a solid wire or a flux-cored wire (FCW) in a coiled state, as well as a welding wire contained in the container. Particularly, the present invention is concerned with a welding wire container improved in recyclability and preventing the entry of water and moisture from the outside.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional general welding wire container (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cpackxe2x80x9d) of a large capacity, a welding wire is received in a coiled state into a bottomed cylindrical container body with its axis vertical, then an inner surface of the container is coated with resin, a metallic cap is applied to an upper end opening of the container body, and the boundary between the container body and the cap is sealed with a sealing material such as rubber to prevent the entry of water and moisture from the outside. Lower and upper end portions of the bottomed cylindrical body of the pack, which portions are required to have a sufficient strength, are each reinforced using a ring-shaped metallic member.
The pack after use is sometimes used again as a container for a welding wire, but the is usually discarded after being used a predetermined number of times. Before discarding the pack it is necessary that the ring-shaped metallic members and the cap attached to the pack body be separated from the pack body. Alternatively, without such separation, it is necessary to discard the whole as an industrial waste.
On the other hand, the welding wire is manufactured in a coilwise dripped state into the bottomed cylindrical pack. The welding wire is transported and stored in this contained state within the pack and is drawn out continuously from the interior of the pack when it is to be used (Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. Sho 57-98469).
According to the prior art, when the welding wire is to be used, the cap of the pack is removed, a conical wire draw-out jig made of resin is attached to the upper end opening of the pack., a conduit tube is connected to the top of the jig, and one end of the coiled welding wire is drawn out from the interior of the pack and is inserted into the conduit tube, thus allowing the welding wire to be drawn out into the conduit tube. After this work for drawing out the welding wire is over, welding is started. The welding wire draw-out jig is used not only for drawing out the welding wire smoothly without entanglement but also for straightening the welding wire which tends to be coiled.
Thus, the conventional pack is required to go through separation or disposal as an industrial waste, involving the problem that the disposal after use thereof is complicated.
An effective method for solving this problem is to use paper as the material of the pack because a route for recovery of paper as waste and recycle has been established. More particularly, if the whole of the welding wire container is fabricated using paper such as corrugated cardboard, it is easy to recover the container as waste after use and recycle it as a paper product. Besides, because of easy discard, when the pack is used once for storage and transport of the welding wire and after the welding wire contained therein is used up, the pack can be discarded. Consequently, it is possible to omit a wasteful cost for transporting the pack after use to a welding wire manufacturing factory in an empty state of the pack.
However, the paper pack is permits easy entry of water and moisture from the outside, thus giving rise to such a problem as oxidation during storage of the welding wire.
Moreover, a wire draw-out jig for drawing out the welding wire from the container is difficult to be attached to the paper pack and it is necessary to provide a fixing jig separately for mounting the draw-out jig to the paper pack.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above-mentioned problems and it is an object of the invention to provide a welding wire container which can be recovered at low cost or does not require recovery and which can prevent the entry of water and moisture from the exterior and thereby permits the welding wire to be store over a long period. It is another object of the present invention to provide a welding wire container which permits easy mounting thereto of a wire draw-out jig.
A welding wire container according to the present invention comprises a bottomed outer cylinder made of paper, an inner cylinder made of paper and inserted inside the outer cylinder, a bag formed by a resin film and disposed inside the outer cylinder so as to enclose the inner cylinder therein, and a string-like support member extending between the outer and inner cylinders and drawn out to the exterior from a pair of apertures formed in the outer cylinder, with holder portions to be grasped by hands being formed at both externally drawn-out ends of the support member.
In the welding wire container according to the present invention it is preferable that the bag contain a vaporizable rust preventive. For example, the vaporizable rust preventive may be applied to the inner surface of the bag.
Alternatively, it is preferable that a sheet containing the vaporizable rust preventive be disposed above a welding wire coil contained in the container. For example, the vaporizable rust preventive may be applied to a lower surface of the sheet.
The vaporizable rust preventive contains, for example, dicyclohexylamine nitrite (dicyclohexylammonium nitride), xe2x80x9cDICHANxe2x80x9d hereinafter, or diisopropylamine nitrite, xe2x80x9cDIPANxe2x80x9d hereinafter. The bag is made of polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride as an example.
Preferably, the welding container according to the present invention is provided with a paper cap fitted on an upper edge of the outer cylinder. The inner cylinder may be provided at the bottom thereof with a paper pedestal and a core member may be disposed centrally of the pedestal and coaxially with the outer and inner cylinders. The resin film which constitutes the bag preferably has a thickness of not smaller than 60 xcexcm. For example, the outer and inner cylinders are each formed in a prismatic shape comprising rectangular side walls. As a result, it becomes easier to assemble the outer and inner cylinders from a single sheet and also becomes easier to fold them after use.
In the welding wire container according to the present invention, the opening of the bag may be closed to seal the welding wire within the bag.
In the welding wire container according to the present invention it is preferable that the outside of the outer cylinder be enclosed in an outer bag formed by a resin film, or a resin film band be wound round the outside of the outer cylinder.
The outer cylinder can be formed in the shape of a bottomed cylinder by bending paper such as corrugated cardboard. Like the outer cylinder, the inner cylinder can be formed by rounding paper such as corrugated cardboard into a cylindrical shape. As the material of the resin film there may be used a material superior in moisture- and water-proofness and water-repellency, e.g., polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride, and the resin film may have a single or multi-layer structure.
In the present invention, a coiled welding wire is received within the inner cylinder and is covered with the resin film bag together with the inner cylinder, then the opening end of the bag is closed to seal the welding wire within the bag, so that it is possible to prevent the entry of water and moisture around the welding wire and hence possible to effect a long period storage of the welding wire. Particularly, since the bag contains a vaporizable rust preventive, or by disposing a vaporizable rust preventive-containing sheet at an upper position in the container, there can be obtained a more effective rust preventing effect for the welding wire contained in the bag.
Further, by enclosing the whole of the container with the resin film bag or by winding a band-like sheet around the entire container, it is possible to prevent the container, which is made of paper (corrugated cardboard), from being deteriorated in its strength due to wetting with water during transport.
In the present invention, since the container is formed of paper such as corrugated cardboard, it is easy to dispose of the container and the container can be recycled easily through a recovery and recycle route.
If a core member is disposed centrally of the bottom of the inner cylinder and coaxially with both inner and outer cylinders, it becomes easier to draw out the coiled welding wire from the container when the wire is to be used. The pack shape differs between a flux-cored wire and a solid wire. In the case of a solid wire, a core member is used in many cases, while in the case of a flux-cored wire, a core member is not used in many cases. In the case of a wire having a high elastic deformation yield strength, entanglement is apt to occur at the time of drawing out the wire from the container. A core member is used to prevent the occurrence of such entanglement at the time of drawing out the wire.
In the present invention there is utilized a double structure of the pack body and between both structures in the double structure is provided a resin film of a single or multi-layer structure, the resin film being formed of a material superior in moisture- and water-proofness and water repellency such as polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride. Since the resin film has a bag structure, it is possible to prevent the entry of water and moisture around the welding wire from the outside. It is preferable that the thickness of the resin film which constitutes the bag be not less than 60 xcexcm. If the resin film thickness is less than 60 xcexcm, the film is apt to tear when handled and it is impossible to achieve the objects of the present invention. Preferably, the paper which constitutes the inner and outer cylinders is corrugated cardboard from the standpoint of high strength and easy handleability.
In a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a welding wire container comprising a bottomed, cylindrical container body made of paper and a paper cap which can close an opening of the container body, the cap having been subjected to machining for opening the cap. According to this construction, the mounting of a welding wire draw-out jig becomes easy.
The machining for opening the cap may be forming radial cuts in the cap area exclusive of the edge portion thereof, the cuts extending radially from the center of the cap.
The machining for opening the cap may be forming radial perforations in the cap area exclusive of the edge portion thereof, the perforations extending radially from the center of the cap.
The machining for opening the cap may be scooping a hole in part of the cap. This machining for the scooping may be forming perforations.
An outer surface of the cap having been subjected to the machining for opening the cap may be coated with a sealing film.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear more fully from the following description